BenQ gives up on German mobile operations

BenQ has decided to stop funding losses at its German mobile phone subsidiary and is considering filing for insolvency for the unit. BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co has operations in Munich, Bocholt and Kamp-Lintfort in Germany, which “may be affected” by the move, BenQ said without specifying plans for the assets and staff. Recent reports suggested the company is considering outsourcing production. The company confirmed it is also reviewing the financial position of mobile subsidiaries in Brazil and other locations. The Taiwanese company has decided to scale back the mobile operation to its manufacturing and R&D operations in Asia, with branded products sold only in selected markets. The German operations, acquired from Siemens, have been consistently loss-making, with BenQ recently pushing back the expected breakeven date to mid-2007. The company now says that despite the progress in the past year in cost-cutting, the decision to discontinue the operation is “unavoidable”.

Source- http://www.telecompaper.com

Mobile Messaging Emerges as a Key Growth Opportunity for Operators in the Latin American Region

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42760) has announced the addition of the Pyramid Research, Inc report Mobile Messaging Trends in Latin America to their offering.

Assessing market demand and revenue potential for operators, this report provides detailed analysis of Latin America’s mobile messaging market with emphasis placed on Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Venezuela. Included are forecasts of SMS, MMS and other mobile messaging users, revenues and key indicators in Latin America. The report analysis also provides comparison of operator strategies as well as best-practice assessments of operators in other developing markets worldwide.

Mobile messaging in Latin America is emerging as a key growth opportunity for operators in the region. While adoption traditionally lags uptake in other markets, we believe that the region will experience significant growth as tariffs fall, networks become interconnected, data-enabled handsets become more affordable, and fresh and innovative content permeates the region. In this report we will answer the key question: how big is this opportunity?

Latin America’s six largest markets, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela will be examined in detail with mobile messaging forecasts provided at the country level for each market. Each country will be sized and subsequently analyzed in terms of the four key factors that we feel spurs messaging adoption. A complete set of forecasts for the Latin America Region are provided in this report showing our view of the whole region. We also highlight case studies from five operators outside of Latin America, in order to provide insight on how players have increased messaging adoption in other parts of the world, and what impact it has on the Latin America region.

We believes that mobile messaging will become an increasingly important factor in Latin America’s wireless landscape going forward, and that this report will enable operators, vendors, content providers and investors working closely in the region to effectively capitalize on this opportunity.

Source- http://biz.yahoo.com